CBMS Conference: Computational Methods in Optimal Control

Jackson State University, Jackson MS

Investigators

Abstract

This National Science Foundation award supports a 5-day CBMS conference on "Computational Methods in Optimal Control", to be held at the Jackson State University, Jackson, Mississippi, during July, 2018. The principal lecturer will be Dr. William W. Hager from the University of Florida. As one of the largest Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States, Jackson State University is a good location for hosting this conference, which will have a direct impact on training and attracting African-American students in the computational mathematics and statistical sciences doctoral programs and professions. The anticipated participants include senior and junior faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students. Some travel support will be provided to selected participants based on several criteria, such as relevance of research background, academic preparation, potential of long-term collaboration, and broader impacts. Due to the growing complexity of optimal control applications, approximate solutions are often obtained by numerical algorithms, which requires deep understanding of numerical discretization and solution techniques. Dr. Hager will deliver ten main lectures on state-of-the-art computational methods on optimal control during the morning sessions, which are accompanied with guided computer lab sessions in the afternoon focusing on computer implementations of the discussed algorithms. The presented lectures and the corresponding monograph will provide both the background needed to analyze convergence of discrete approximations and solution techniques in optimal control, and practical experience in solving real-world problems. To complement the content of the main lectures, a few invited speakers will give additional introductory talks that focus on efficient numerical methods for solving optimal control problems whose dynamics are described by a partial differential equation. More information can be found at the conference website: http://www.siue.edu/~juliu/cbms18 This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.